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How I Wrote & Published 4 Books In 12 Months

February 10, 2018

This is a behind the scenes post where the answer is a little more in depth than all I did was write, stay up all night and live on coffee!!! Truly!

My 2017 was full, fun and social (you can read about it here) and I definitely had no desire to spend all my spare time sitting behind a computer. But I did have a goal I wanted to achieve. I wanted to write three books that complemented one another as a series (I ended up writing an unplanned fourth).

I joke that these books were written and created while everyone was sleeping…and there’s a little bit of truth in that. I can be a night owl if need be. An early riser if I push myself. I’ve definitely done both of those things. But there was more to it than that, otherwise I would have undoubtedly found myself feeling burnt out and over it within months.

Maybe you’re writing a book yourself (or would love too), perhaps you have your own creative project you’re working towards, maybe you want to get more out of yourself/your day/ your life. Whatever it maybe I hope the below inspires and motivates you to do more and do it better!

One Thing At A Time

I don’t know about you, but for me multi-tasking makes me feel more anxious, scattered and busy. It definitely doesn’t make me more productive.

Having one primary focus at a time allows me to not only get something done, but to do it well. And this is how I approached my books.

I took on no one on one clients for several months at a time, nor did I even pursue them and I did it unapologetically, despite it going against what other life coaches were offering. It suited some of the circumstances in my life at the time and the benefit of doing this for me was laser focus and inspired drive.

Chunking My Time

The bulk of each book was written in one burst of time. At a moment when I felt most inspired to write.

A Confident Heart was written at my coffee table over two extremely late nights.

A Grateful Heart at my desk one morning till I couldn’t take the isolation any longer so I walked to a local Italian Cafe where I ate and completed the last part.

I started A Vibrant Heart on a flight home from Florida and finished her during an afternoon at the library.

A Single Heart was mostly written on a six hour flight home from Fiji after a Tony Robbin’s course and finished later during a full day spent enclosed away in a conference room in my then boyfriend’s office.

Getting the hardest part of the process out of the way made me feel lighter as well as more motivated. Whatever it took I wrote it the first draft on paper without judgement or editing, I just wrote my heart out.

If I had written one chapter sporadically here and there I believe I would have become disinterested quickly and eventually unmotivated to finish them.

I Stuck To What I Knew

My books didn’t require large amounts of research while I was writing them because I wrote what I knew and what I’d lived and learnt. It made the writing process heart felt and genuine. I won’t say easy, more that I wrote with an off the cuff ease as a result.

I created what only I could create.

From my own life experience.

I felt very much in tune and in flow with what I was putting onto paper and I know it would have felt the opposite- a hard task, if I’d tried to write something that wasn’t true to myself and who I really was at my core.

The Right People

I don’t pretend to know everything and so the biggest investment in my books, other than my time spent writing them was in their design. Having people around me who understood my vision- sometimes even clearer than I saw it myself, and who could bring it to life quickly, made the process of working together fun and a joy.

Every individual who I collaborated with, from the editing to the design, added to my vision with their own creativity. Ultimately their enthusiasm added positivity to the creative process. And supported me to continue feeling enthusiastic and positive despite a few setbacks and some small timing issues. I was never left questioning myself, my work or what I was trying to bring to life by anyone- they believed in and loved what I was doing.

Having the right people around me shaped my whole creative experience, not once did it feel tedious. It came together, from the start, easier than I could have imagined. And easy is good!

If you are a fellow coach or creative person I’d love to know what is your biggest takeaway from the points above?